


the resurrection and the life

by hauntedjaeger (saellys)



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020), Warrior Nun (TV)
Genre: Character Study, Crossover, Gen, Not Beta Read, Vignette, it's literally just an excuse for Mary and Nile to meet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:20:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25350784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saellys/pseuds/hauntedjaeger
Summary: “Nile Freeman,” the woman says, offering her hand. Her two remaining companions watch from their car, faces grim behind sunglasses. Mary can feel Lilith’s eyes on her, but Beatrice hasn’t looked away from Ava since she walked off with the stranger.Mary shakes Nile’s hand. “Shotgun Mary,” she says.Nile looks her over, eyes lingering on the guns. “Don’t like riding in the back seat?”
Comments: 22
Kudos: 151





	the resurrection and the life

From a distance, it would look like a standoff. Or at least a negotiation between two rival factions, with the option of a bloodbath. It could still go that way, Mary knows well enough. The day is young. 

Ava and the sandy haired man have performed the time honored ritual of showing each other empty hands, despite the fact that weapons would just be frosting if they got into it. They are out of earshot, walking together down the roadside, when the woman approaches through the no man’s land between their vehicles. 

Mary notes the precise shoulder width of her feet when she stops, the way she starts to fold her hands at the small of her back before she catches herself and stands more at ease. She can’t be much older than Mary. 

“Nile Freeman,” the woman says, offering her hand. Her two remaining companions watch from their car, faces grim behind sunglasses. Mary can feel Lilith’s eyes on her, but Beatrice hasn’t looked away from Ava since she walked off with the stranger. 

Mary shakes Nile’s hand. “Shotgun Mary,” she says. 

Nile looks her over, eyes lingering on the guns. “Don’t like riding in the back seat?” 

Mary smiles. Here of all places, in the dusty margin between guardrail and unused mountain road overlooking Cordoba, are two displaced American not-quite-soldiers. She has seen stranger coincidences--some just in the last couple weeks--but not many. 

“Can I ask how you found us?” Nile goes on. “As a rule, we don’t like loose ends.” 

Neither would she, if she was one of them. If they are what they seem to be. “Mr. Shaefer,” she says, tilting her chin toward the van, “used to work in the Vatican archives.” 

“And Copley would have had to go in person to research the First Crusade,” Nile mutters, making a face. “Can’t delete a memory.” 

“He asked some pretty specific questions at the time. And it turned out our entire order was kind of founded on a lie, so we’re looking for whatever’s left of the truth.” 

Nile nods, watching the two distant silhouettes. “Nicky said he rode with Areala, but he didn’t tell us much more. And that girl, she’s the new…” 

“Halo-Bearer,” Mary offers. 

“Halo-Bearer,” Nile says, with a dubious tinge. “So she’s functionally immortal?” 

Mary can’t help it--she snorts, loud, and tosses a grin over her shoulder to Lilith. “More like disaster immortal.” Lilith cracks a smile, just for her. 

“It’s not easy at first,” Nile says under her breath. 

Fair, but Mary suspects that she wouldn’t have the urge to shove Nile off a cliff if they were stuck on a long hike together. Something about this woman's eyes tells her that even before Nile was plunged into something bigger than herself, she was acquainted with responsibility and duty. 

Ava and Nicky have turned toward them now, and they’re close enough that Mary can see they’re smiling. A little of the tension she was holding eases. 

“Lilith!” Ava calls. “Draw the sword!” 

Just like that, Mary is tense again. Nile’s hand inches toward the small of her back, and Mary puts both of her hands out, palms down. “We’re not doing that,” she says, loud enough for Lilith and Ava both to hear her. 

“Come on! He wants to see it!” 

Mary hears Lilith sigh, and then the scrape of scabbard over divinium, but she only bares a handbreadth of blade. As Ava draws nearer, the blue glow shines in Nile’s eyes. 

“That’s still the coolest shit,” Nicky says. Lilith slides the sword back home, and Nile, blinking, lets her hand relax. 

“Your buddies aren’t going to introduce themselves?” Mary says, to salvage what they almost had a moment ago. “Camila made a cheese platter and everything.” 

Nile looks back at the others. “They both got killed a few times by clergy, so no, probably not. If you ever need a few more shotguns though, you know how to find us.” 

Whatever the four of them are fighting, it’s not what the OCS is up against. But Mary nods her thanks anyway, and Nile turns to go with Nicky to the car. 

“Get anything useful?” Mary asks Ava, walking slow on purpose so Ava can tell her first. 

“Yeah, totally,” Ava says, but she’s making eyes at Beatrice. 

Mary looks from her to the car, where the dark haired man holds a door open for Nicky. “About Areala,” she stresses. 

“Yes, okay! After the halo, she was changed. I felt that much in the crypt. She kept her own counsel, didn’t trust anyone, even once she established the order. He said she was always alone.” 

It couldn’t have been easy, to be the first. Or--and Shannon’s face waits, as ever, when Mary shuts her eyes--to carry a secret that would have destroyed everything she worked to build. 

The car kicks up dust and passes them by. Inside, next to a stone-faced woman, Nile sits shotgun. She lifts two fingers and sketches a salute to Mary, and Mary waves. When the car disappears around the next bend, she nudges Ava. “You’re not alone,” she says. 

Ava throws her arm across Mary’s shoulders. “I know.” 

Inside the van, Shaefer and Camila wait for them. Camila wraps the cheese platter back up. “I guess they didn’t want this,” she sighs. 

“Maybe next time,” Beatrice tells her. When Camila looks away, Ava phases her hand through the platter to steal a piece of prosciutto, and gives it to Beatrice. 

“Next time,” Lilith scoffs. She straps the sword into its own seat in the back row. “We should live so long.” 

“We might,” Ava says. “It could be a sort of background radiation. The longer a warrior nun stays alive, the longer the other sisters stay alive, you know?” 

It one hundred percent does not work like that, but before Mary can crush Ava’s dreams, Beatrice says, “Immortality by osmosis?” 

Ava beams at her. “Romantic, huh? I mean, the Halo brought me back, and then Lilith came back, so--”

“You do not get to take credit for me going to Hell for you.” 

“I’m just saying, that’s two resurrections in like a week. It could be contagious. Maybe we’ll all be together for a millennium.” 

“Please drive,” Mary says to Shaefer, and slides the van door closed. 

**Author's Note:**

> You know they'd all make a hell of a team. 
> 
> Cheers for reading! I'm @hauntedfalcon on Tumblr if you want to come yell with me about Warrior Nun, The Old Guard, or both.


End file.
